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UC-NRLF ^B bEM ADS LIBRARY OF THE UNivERSifY OF California. Gl FT OF J^ 1 Class 2i 334- A GRAMMAR OF THE DIALECT OF OLDHAM (LANCASHIRE). DISSERTATION ZUR ERLAIsrOUISIG DER 13 OKTORWUrDE BEI DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN FAKULTAT DER GROSSHERZOGLICH HESSI8CHEN LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAT ZU GIESSEN EINGERETCHT VON KARL G. SCHILLING AUS ALTRINCHAM (ENGLAND). DARMSTADT. G. OTTO'S HOF-BUCHDRUCKEREI. 1906. Genehmigt durch das Priifungskollegium am 22. I. 1906. Referent: Dr. Horn. Preface. It is intended in the present work to add one more to the list of scientific grammars of English Dialects. The general scheme is the same as that followed by Professor Wright in his Grammar of the Windhill Dialect except that I have, like Hargreaves in his Grammar of the Dialect of Ad- made Middle and not Old the lington, English— English starting point of my investigations. It is to Professor Horn of Giessen that I am indebted for the idea of writing the grammar as also for his advice and suggestions on every occasion. — I also take this opportunity to thank Mr. Dronsfield of Oldham for his valuable help in the way of practical information concerning the folk-speech of which he is such an admirable exponent. As the English Dialect Grammar of Dr. J. Wright did not appear until the autumn of 1905, when my grammar was already completed, I was unable to make use of it. 161721 List of Works consulted with Abbreyiations used. Bjorkman, E. Scandinavian Loanwords in Middle English, Halle 1900—19)2. (Bjorkman.) Ellis, A. J. Early English Pronunciation, vol. V, London 1875. (E.E.P.) Hargreaves, A. A Grammar of the Dialect of Adlington, Heidelberg 1904. (Hargreaves.) W. zur Geschichte der Gutturallaute Berlin 1901. Horn, Beitrage , (Gutturallaute.) Horn, W. Untersuchungen zur neuenglischen Lautgeschichte, Strassburg 1905. (= Quellen und Forschungen 98.) (Unters.) Koppel, E. Spelling Pronunciations, Strassburg 1901. (= Quellen und Forschungen 89.) Lloyd, R. J. Northern English, Leipzig 1899. Luick, K. Untersuchungen zur englischen Lautgeschichte, Strassburg 1896. (Unters.) Murray. New English Dictionary, Oxford. (N. E. D.) Nodal and Milne r. A Glossary of the Lancashire Dialect, Manchester 1875. (Nodal and Milner.) Sweet, Henry. New English Grammar, Oxford 1892. (N. E. G.) Taylor, F. E. The Folkspeech of South Lancashire, Manchester 1901. (Taylor.) Wright, J. A Grammar of the Dialect of Wiudhill, London 1892. Wright, J. The English Dialect Dictionary, London 1905. (E. D. D.) AVindMIl Bradford, Adlin^toTi \. ^^^^ •''' Hyde «* — ' IVIAJfCIJE'STER \ I ~ Altiinjcham \ JScdhyays INTRODUCTION. The Municipal Borough of Oldham, the dialect of which I have attempted in the following pages to discuss, is situated in S. E. Lancashire and therefore falls within District 21 as marked in Ellis" E. E. P., vol V. A glance at the preceding map will show that only a few miles separate it from the adjoining county of Yorkshire (West Riding) the nearest large town in that county being Huddersfield, nor is it far from the N. E. extremity of Cheshire and the N. W. corner of Derby- shire, the strip of land round Staleybridge (Cheshire) being included by Ellis in District 21. It may be objected that a town so large as Oldham (population over 100,000) is hardly suited for the purpose of showing a distinct variety of dialect in anything like a pure state, but a reference to Ellis (E. E. P., V. p. 322) will show that he has already referred to Oldham as possessing a par- ticular form of speech distinct from the other towns in the immediate neighbourhood. To say, of course, that the dialect of Oldham is pure would be as untrue as it would be of any other dialect still spoken in Great Britain, but certain causes have worked and are still working which have great influence in preserv- ing the popular speech from too rapid decay. The vast and sudden increase of the population consequent upon the spread of the cotton manufacture at the beginning of last century was certainly a cause for alarm to the lovers of the ancient folk-speech of Lancashire, and it was thought at the time that it would never hold its own against such an invasion 1 - 2 - of foreign elements, but though a large number of new words were introduced they did not succeed in ousting the native forms, rather the reverse, the foreigners learnt the speech of the natives and became assimilated with them in every way, a which is still on in the case of all fresh sett- process going— lers at the present day. For this there are particular rea- sons which I will try to make clear. For the entire district of S. E. Lancashire there is practically only one staple in- dustry, namely that of cotton spinning. Other manufactures are carried on, it is true, but the vast majority of the popu- lation is employed in the cotton mills. Moreover not only is male but female labour employed, the cotton operatives are recruited indiscriminately from both sexes. This is very im- portant for the preservation of the dialect, for not only are the male members of the family constantly hearing and speaking the vernacular, but the mothers of the present and future generations also, and no impressions, whether linguistic or otherwise, are so difficult to eradicate as those received in infancy. Add to this that not only are all the foremen in the mills local men who have been bred and born among the dialect-speaking population, but even the wealthy mil- lowners are, as often as not, men who have risen from the ranks and, in every case almost, born in the locality and using the dialect as their habitual medium of conversation. The older generation indeed not only habitually address their hands in the dialect but even speak it among themselves unless strangers are present. It might be supposed, however, that the spread of education would make itself felt to the detriment of the folk-speech. The younger generation can most of them express themselves in literary English if they choose i. e. at the time at which they leave school to go to the mill, but as they are allowed e. to work as half-timers between the ages of 12 and 14 (i. to spend half the day, either the morning or the afternoon, during these two years in the mill) after which they hear hardly anything but dialect at work and in the home, we cannot wonder at the slow progress made by the literary language in the cotton district. - 3 — The present generation of young men and women in Oldham as well as the other manufacturing towns in Lan- cashire are, it is true, becoming gradually more reticent in the use of the popular speech in the presence of strangers; any attempt, however, to ''talk fine", as speaking literary English is called, among themselves is greeted by the older hands as a mark of snobbishness. Moreover, side by side with this recent gradual exten- sion of the literary language, we have an undercurrent of conservatism in the form of Literary Clubs and Societies whose object it is to preserve the Folk-speech in its pristine vigour. The efforts of these societies are aided by the mag- nificent library of really first-class dialect literature at their disposal from which to select pieces for public readings or recitals and thus to alive the love of the old ~ keep speech among the people. Indeed I think I may say without fear of contradiction that there is hardly any corner of Europe which has produced in comparatively recent years such a phalanx of poetry and prose writers in the dialect as S. E. Lancashire. So great, indeed, is the fame of some of them (Edwin Waugh and Ben Brierley for instance) that their works are not only read and enjoyed in their native county but in other parts of England sufficiently remote from the cotton district. There is yet another factor which tends to preserve the dialects of S. E. Lancashire and that is the exclusiveness of the people. This exclusiveness not only extends to the natives of other counties (notably Yorkshire), but, to a less degree, to all strangers not belonging to the same town and village. A man from Oldham will be laughed at in Hollin- wood (even tho' the distance between the two places is less than a mile and a continuous street connects them), for the use of certain forms peculiar to his own dialect {nohdt [Old- ham] nohd'' [Hollinwood] = only [not but]). The same thing is noticeable in Oldham or Rochdale people away from home. They cling together whenever possible and should they come across a fellow-townsman in their travels they hail him with as much effusion as one Frenchman would hail another in a foreign country. 1* ^ 4 — Despite this tenacious clinging to the folk-speech, how- ever, the dialect is undergoing a gradual change more espec- ially in the matter of vocabulary. A mere glance at the very full glossary of South Lancashire words edited by M"" F. E. Taylor (Manchester, 1901) will prove this at once. M' Taylor has marked the obsolete words with an asterisk and many words so marked are still to be found in the writings of the latter old. Brierley and Waugh, . being barely 50 years There are, however, other changes taking place of more vital importance. These affect both vocabulary and phono- nology. With regard to the former must be mentioned more especially the gradual filtering in of Yorkshire forms, more particularly from the West Riding, as might be expected owing to its proximity to Oldham. Such words I have care- fully noted in their proper places.

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